Rescued by Rogers: DBD

February 23 Friday – At mid-day in Fairhaven, Mass., Sam wrote to Livy, relating the events of the past two days there (see Feb 21-22). Sam would skip a mid-day dinner choosing to eat in the evening. He wanted to save himself for another dance, expected to dance all night, and wished she was there. He related a conversation he had yesterday during a walk with Rogers, who offered to give him a vacant lot in Fairhaven if he’d build a home on it.

February 24 Saturday – In Fairhaven, Mass. Sam woke at 8:30 a.m. and breakfasted. Afterward he and H.H. Rogers went down to the Millicent Library.

…it was bitter cold — thermometer 5° below zero. He asked me if I would do him a favor. I said he couldn’t mention anything I wouldn’t attempt. The favor he wanted was that I should write a letter to put under the engraving of me which is to be hung up in the room dedicated to authors, & which is to be the first one hung there.

February 25 Sunday – At 10:30 p.m. in New York at the Players Club, Sam wrote another long bi-weekly letter to Livy, which he added to on Feb. 26 and Feb. 27. He’d had dinner with Mary Mason Fairbanks, her daughter Alice (Mrs. William H. Gaylord) and Alice’s daughter, who were in the city for a few days. Sam remarked on Mary’s “age & infirmity,” having to be supported when she walks. She was 39 on the Quaker City and now was 66.

February 26 Monday – At 12:30 a.m. Sam added a line or two to his Feb. 25 to Livy, that all his letters were written and he was going to bed At 2 p.m. he added another line or two that he’d received her letter and one from daughter Jean “about her dog. It came very near making me cry” [MTP].

February 27 Tuesday – In New York on Players Club stationery, Sam wrote to James B. Pond, who evidently read about Sam’s appearances with James Whitcomb Riley at Madison Square Garden and asked if he’d like to make ten appearances for him.

Oh, I’m just doing this to give Riley an advertisement. I sail for France eight days hence, & I’ve got to go; otherwise I would do the 10 nights for you [MTP].

February 3 Saturday – In New York on Players Club stationery, Sam wrote a response to Edwina Booth Grossman, whose request (not extant) concerned Sam’s communication with her late father, Edwin Booth (d. 1893).

If I had a line from his honored hand it would be at your command at any moment; but it happened that your father & I corresponded only with the tongue [MTP].

February 4 Sunday – Sam had breakfast at noon with Madame Nordica, who gave him a signed picture of herself. He had another engagement to dine at 3 p.m. and again at 7 p.m.

February 5 Monday – In New York at Rogers’ office, Sam wrote to daughter Clara at the Hotel Brighton in Paris, France:

February 6 Tuesday – In New York at the Players Club, Sam wrote a note to Francis Wilson, his “fellow-player and neighbor in the next room”:

…greeting and salutation! And therewithal prosperity and peace, and the continuance of our friendship until the end. Amen. / Mark Twain

On Feb. 7 Sam wrote Livy about this nights’ gathering at Robert Reid’s studio:

February 7 Wednesday – In New York Sam wrote to Livy, explaining that he lost a day when sending letters by English steamers, and there was only one French steamer per week from N.Y. Sam told of arranging to sell a big block of his stock in the new type-setter company with J.M. Shoemaker, a representative of the Standard Oil Co. for the Elmira district.

February 8 Thursday – Sam wrote “How to Tell a Story” for Youth’s Companion (which was not published in that magazine until Oct. 3, 1895). At 6 p.m. he went to Richard Harding Davis’ 5 o’clock tea. Davis and “young” Howard Russell shared 5th Avenue bachelor quarters.

February 9 Friday – In New York at the Players Club, Sam wrote to Livy (this letter may have been written on Feb. 8, but since his stated aim was to write Livy twice a week, this is placed here, as LLMT also assumes.)

Sam explained some misinformation had caused him to miss the French liner to send his letter. He was trying to write less frequently but longer letters, writing twice a week instead of his usual near-daily.

January 1 Monday – In New York Sam wrote to Henry G. Newton, attorney for Charles R. North:

It would not avail for me to go to New Haven, or to re-open negociations here, because I have no larger powers now that I have been equipped with heretofore. But if you would like to see Mr. Rogers I will make the appointment for you, or you can communicate directly with him.

January 10 Wednesday – Sam went to Hartford and took in the play, The Masque of Culture, by the Saturday Morning Club, which he’d established years before. It had been performed previously at Unity Hall, so it’s likely that’s where it came off on this day. Sam had missed two prior invitations to see the play with Annie E. Trumbull in the cast. He described the play, and evaluated roles in a letter to Livy the next day.

January 11 Thursday – In Hartford at Joe Twichell’s parsonage, Sam wrote to Livy about the previous night’s play given by the Saturday Morning Club (see Jan. 10 entry). Sam may have stayed with the Twichells.

January 12 Friday – In New York on Dr. Rice’s letterhead, Sam wrote to Livy of the trip down from Hartford the previous day, lingering negotiations in the typesetter affair, and Mrs. Cabell’s confidence. Kipling would be in New York for a week and Sam wanted to invite him to dinner, but was afraid there would be business interruptions.

January 13 Saturday – In New York Sam wrote to Livy from Mr. Rogers’ office. He described Rogers’ sending a telegram framed by the Conn. Co. people and followed by his own: “My telegram of yesterday [Jan. 11] states my position accurately.

January 14 Sunday – In New York at the Players Club, Sam wrote to Poultney Bigelow, thanking him for the “pat on the back.”

Your letter passed through Mrs. Clemens’s hands several weeks ago on its own way to me, and she naturally thanks you too, since you confirm her own judgment. She is head critic over me and Court of Last Resort, and she made me pull the story to pieces and do it over again before she would allow it to be printed. [PW?]

January 15 Monday – In New York a telegram arrived from Chicago (probably from Paige’s attorney Walker); Paige had agreed to terms.

Sam’s notebook: This is a great date in my history — a date which I said on the 5th would see Paige strike his colors. A telegram from Stone says he has done it. Yesterday we were paupers, with but 3 months’ rations of cash left & $160,000 in debt, my wife and I, but this telegram makes us wealthy [MTHHR; NB 33 TS 47-8 (renumbered pages 49-50].

January 16 Tuesday – In the wee hours, Sam wrote again to Livy, this time good news.

January 18 Thursday – Fatout lists an Author’s Club appearance for Sam in New York City; no subject is specified [MT Speaking 661]. Sam’s notebook gives another engagement at Laurence Hutton’s:

January – Sam’s notebook lists several ideal subjects for his “Back Number” magazine, including Pepys’ Diary, Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography, Herodotus’ writings, and “John Johnson (Iceland) in old Littell.

January 19 Friday – Sam wrote in his Feb. 11 to Livy that he made a notebook entry on this day of:

To-day, Jan. 19, sent cable, to Livy, “Nearing success.” It was plain, yesterday, at the conference, that a very trifling change or two would make the Chicago contract suit Mr. Rogers. But as this would cost several days, with a delay added for consulting the patent lawyers, I thought best not to cable anything more promising [NB 33 TS 50].

January 2 Tuesday – Sam signed the brief introduction, “A Whisper To The Reader,” to The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson and the Comedy Those Extraordinary Twins:

Given under my hand this second day of January, 1893, at the Villa Viviani, village of Settignano, three miles back of Florence, on the hills…[Oxford facsimile edition 1996].

January 21 Sunday – In New York on Players Club stationery, Sam wrote to Mary Mapes Dodge, declining an invitation, and sorry he’d missed her son, James (Jamie) on a recent visit, but his room was “in scandalous disorder” and he wasn’t yet up.

I’m to be in Boston Thursday & Friday — & likewise Saturday, I am afraid. It is just as exasperatingly too bad as it can be — in fact the whole too-badness of it can’t be done justice to without ripping & cussing, & it is Sunday & I dasn’t [MTP].